Day four and five at the Gabba

Defiance is a term England batsman are unfamiliar with, year after year we see them attempt to recover from dire situations only to implode with consummate ease. Andrew Strauss (110), Alastair Cook (235 n.o.) and Jonathan Trott (135 n.o.) took this record and tore it up to rewrite Ashes history.

The tourists' seem more acquired to falling like Italian striker's who have had their knee grazed, yet they stood taller than the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. When everyone doubted the man they dub 'the Chef', he has put all of his critics, including myself, to bed.

The trio broke a total of ten records including Cook reaching his top first-class score, achieving the highest ever partnership (329) by two batsman (Cook and Trott) at the Gabba, while the Essex batsman also claimed the highest score in a Test match after he passed Sir Don Bradman's 226.

But 517-1 is a score that I recommend that you print off and frame, for it is one that will struggle to be replicated for the foreseeable future. Strauss appeared in a different nous by showing a vast array of attacking strokes, Cook showed maturity beyond his years, and Trott reached his fourth ton for England after gaining starts on plenty of occasions.

There were some comical drops in the field, most notable Mitchell Johnson when Strauss was on 69, and Michael Clarke when Trott was on 75. Two catches that you would not expect to see in international cricket, but it summed up the body language from a miserable Aussie side.

Only part-time bowler Marcus North claimed a wicket on wicket showing so many cracks in it that you could probably lose a lifetime's worth of keys down them. Mitchell Johnson will be called into question, a wretched run of form was epitomised by his 0-170 in this Test.

Doug 'the rug' Bollinger was brought into the 13-man squad for Adelaide along with Ryan Harris, but there will be serious doubts that either team can claim 20 wickets in a match after only 11 were claimed by the respective sides. Two partnerships of over 300 underlined how much of a batting paradise these pitches are proving to be, and both captains' will need to identify bowling line-ups that they believe have the ability to wreck their opponents chances.

Simon Katich's (4) failure summed up a sorry last few days for Ricky Ponting and co, but now they have time to regroup, but also prepare for the barrage of criticism the bowling line-up will take for being as ineffective as it was.

So the Adelaide Oval is the next port-of-call, much like Brisbane, I'm expecting a high-scoring encounter. Until then, let me leave you with the fact that England's trio of heroes are the first to all achieve centuries for the nation in a single innings since 1924, when a certain Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe opened the batting.